McElwain: "When we're here, you're in for a long day."

Welcome to Fan Day, where it's 100 degrees, most of you are in the stands instead of reading this, and I just got done talking to (gasp) assistant coaches. Not a bad time. Offensive coordinator Jim McElwain, in his first time meeting with the local media was, well, hilarious.

McElwain says hello...

Dude walks into the press room, looks out among us and says, "Must be a slow news day here to see me talk." He said he'll take questions, "except any dumb ones."

We also spoke with coach Nick Saban, defensive head coach Kevin Steele and a whole mess of players. You'll read more about this today and in the coming day, don't you worry.

You'll learn that Steele noted about teaching the freshmen, "There is no reason not to get it taught." You'll read about how much Ali Sharrief likes defense (a lot), how Kareem Jackson is feeling after surgery (better), and what Mike McCoy thinks of the freshmen (they're awesome).

He's from Montana, he loves Southern Hospitality, though he may love offense more. He even laughed when he said, "John Parker is our quarterback." Duh. But then he went on about how well JPW has done and also about "what's gone on in the past" -- meaning fan and media criticism, I assume -- and how "I don't think it was deserved."

A lot of what the man called Coach Mac detailed will be in tomorrow's Birmingham News. But here is a little extra...

Though his offense has put up tons of numbers at Fresno State and other places, he said he's "not a stats guy." He'll take a 3-0 game if it's a win, he said, yet I can't imagine he had many of those. Asked what he wants out of an offense, McElwain said he wants it to be "physical" and imposing.

"When we're here, you're in for a long day," he said. "We're going to come after you every play."

So what did he think about the freshmen? Can Julio Jones, B.J. Scott, etc., contribute? Hold on.
"We're still in the discovery phase," he said. "But everybody understands what we're trying to accomplish and understands their role."